


I've tried to hide it so that no one knows, but I guess it shows

by plikki



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, Lila tells the truth for once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27192128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plikki/pseuds/plikki
Summary: Adrien doesn't know what to do when his crush on Ladybug gets exposed in front of his classmates. He certainly doesn't expect that Ladybug herself would know about it and would ask Chat for advice.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 33
Kudos: 290





	I've tried to hide it so that no one knows, but I guess it shows

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was inspired by Backstreet Boys' As Long As You Love Me. I've always loved the song but when I listened to it yesterday it gave me Miraculous vibes (Adrien vibes in particular). At first, my idea for this was a bit different, but this was how it turned out eventually. I hope you like it!

Adrien still didn’t know what had caused it. What he’d done to make Lila so angry that she’d share his secret with the world. Or in this case, their class.

“What do you mean that Adrien has a crush on Ladybug?” Nino asked, looking just as stunned as the rest of their classmates.

“He has pictures of her and everything. I think the poor guy’s obsessed,” Lila said, shaking her head, as if she was concerned about him and even hurt a little by this. But he could see the devious look in her eyes, knew that this was all a play. He’d deal with this later, now he had more pressing matters to attend to.

“I, um,” he started as everyone kept staring at him. For some reason they all looked as if they were offended by the possibility of this being true. He didn’t know why his romantic interests mattered so much to them. Even Chloe, who would have once supported him because of how big of a Ladybug fan she’d been, just looked away now. 

“I mean, Ladybug is amazing, so it’s no surprise that you’re a fan,” Alya said, as if trying to prove that this was all he was. A fan. It should have been easy to lie. 

“Yes,” he said, but before he could even make himself lie, Lila threw in another comment.

“Oh, he’s much more than that, trust me. I’d go as far as to say that he’s in love with her.” 

Adrien fought hard to keep the blush off his cheeks, but to no avail. 

“See, I told you. So sad, when you think about it. He barely knows her but thinks he’s in love with her.”

“Well, she did save him one time,” Nino offered, ever the supporting friend, but for some reason this only won him an irritated glance from Alya, before she returned her attention to Marinette. 

It was only then that Adrien noticed that Marinette was watching him wide-eyed, looking for some reason like she was in a different kind of shock than the rest of the class. And now that he looked closely, everyone else seemed to throw sympathetic glances her way. Which she didn’t notice at all. 

Before he could fumble through an explanation, their teacher arrived and saved him from further embarrassment. 

At the end of classes, he rushed outside, for once looking forward to being home. 

This was not something he’d expected to happen, like ever. He’d tried hard to hide his affection for Ladybug on the few occasions when he’d been close to her as himself. He didn’t think he’d done well, because she always acted kind of strange around him, but he had no way of knowing if this was in some way related to the way he acted.

Then there was the accusation that what he felt for her was a kind of celebrity crush, at least he took Alya’s words to mean this. Of course, for everyone else it couldn’t be anything else. After all you can’t be in love with someone you don’t know, right?

But for some reason it hurt. Because while he felt that he knew Ladybug very well, she was still a stranger. He didn’t know her name, where she lived, what she liked to do in her free time, what friends she had. 

He’d never had to justify his feelings for her in front of anyone before so he was facing this kind of worry for the first time. Plagg, for the most part, took it in his stride. He was sick of Adrien’s determination to stick to his feelings mainly because of the fact that they weren’t reciprocated. But other than that he’d never questioned them.

Adrien wanted to shrug this off, because he knew what he felt, right? He was sure he was in love with her. He knew her enough to know that. But what if for some reason she didn’t take his feelings for her seriously exactly because of this? He’d never considered this but it was possible. He wanted to tell her that he didn’t care. He didn’t need to know details about her life to know that he loved her. But would she even believe him?

*

Feeling low even later that day, he headed to their meeting place. He wanted to talk about this with her but also didn’t feel comfortable bringing it up. She’d asked him to give her space and he’d done it. He was supposed to be getting over her, not dig deeper in search of reasons to love her. 

He hadn’t been prepared to find her in a similarly thoughtful state. 

“What’s up, m’lady?” he asked, trying to sound casual. 

“What do you think of celebrity crushes, Chat?” she surprised him by asking. It was jarring, that they were thinking about the same thing, but he didn’t let it show. 

“Well, I’m fairly certain that some might view me as one,” he said, going for a joke. She didn’t laugh, but the corner of her lips lifted and she shook her head. 

“I don’t see it myself, but you’re probably right,” she said and he pretended to look hurt. 

“Why are you asking?” 

“It turns out that one guy probably sees me as a celebrity crush,” she said. 

“Well, I’m not surprised. He’s certainly not the only one,” he said with a grin. He totally understood the guy. 

“He happens to be the one I’m in love with,” she mumbled.  _ Oh. _ He felt less generous now that he knew that it was about his rival. 

“Is this a bad thing then?” He asked. 

“I don’t know? I’m flattered, I guess. But on the other hand, I always hoped to catch his attention as myself, you know. Not the superhero that saves the day but plain old me.” He didn’t think there could be anything plain about her, but didn’t say that. 

“You are you, m’lady. Whatever he’s seen in you, he’d like in your civilian self too,” he said. If he was anything like him, he would. She just smiled.

“What do you plan to do about this then?” He said, feigning indifference. 

“I don’t know! I can’t really go to him as myself and tell him that I’m his crush, right? And if I confront him about this as Ladybug, he’d figure out who I am too. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have his crush exposed to many people the way it happened with our class,” she said, shrugging. 

She didn’t see him freeze as he realised the full implications of her words. What were the chances that someone else beside him had had their crush on Ladybug revealed to their class on this same day?

But this would mean that he’d been right! Ladybug was Marinette, he realised, as he remembered her confusing reaction to Lila’s comments. She’d been surprised but secretly pleased. It also explained why everyone else had felt sorry for her. If they knew about her feelings for him, it was no surprise that they’d expected her to be hurt by this reveal. She’d denied having feelings for him before, but she probably had her reasons to do it. 

“So, yeah, there isn’t a lot I can do,” she said, sighing, still oblivious to the turmoil in his mind. 

“That’s a pity, because I’m sure he’d love it if you did something,” he said with a smile, finally seeing his chance. She frowned.

“How exactly do you know this?” She asked.

“Because he’s sitting right next to you, Marinette,” he said. She squeaked and then just blinked a few times.

“Whoops?” he said. He could have pretended that he didn’t know. But he wasn’t sure he could pull it off, this was too much to hide from her.

“Adrien?” she asked, looking him up and down a few times. 

“Yep, sorry about that.” All of a sudden, this didn’t seem like one of his brightest ideas.

“Now… this makes so much more sense,” she said.

“What exactly?”

“How you can be in love with me,” she said, a tentative smile on her lips. Oh. 

“It’s easier to believe than a celebrity crush?” He said, trying hard not to blush.

“Well, it did seem like more than that, but it was hard to believe until you turned out to also be my partner,” she said. 

“Are you disappointed?” he said in a small voice. Because it didn’t matter that she claimed to be in love with Adrien if she couldn’t accept the fact that he was also Chat, right? 

“What? No!” She exclaimed. “It saves me the trouble of wondering what to do. I was too tempted to reveal myself, which is not a problem since it’s you,” she said with a soft smile and he felt relief bloom inside of him.

“I’m sorry about Lila,” he said, suddenly remembering where all this had started. “She’s very sneaky and nosy. I got caught up in her lies when she was claiming to be your friend the first time we met and my praise for you didn’t go unnoticed. I should have been more careful.”

“It’s ok, I understand,” she said, taking his hand in hers. “We’ll deal with this together from now on.”

“Well, like I said, it’s a pity that you don’t want to do anything about your crush,” he said, feeling braver once again. 

“Why? Do you have anything in mind?” she said with a teasing smile. 

“Well, let’s hear you out first.”

“As a matter of fact, there is something I want to do with you,” she said, winking. It was all he needed. He found himself leaning towards her, his eyes darting down to her lips. 

“You will help me with my physics homework, won’t you?” she said before he could come too close and he froze. Her eyes were dancing with mirth when he looked up. 

“Um, yes?” he said, feeling his cheeks warm up under her gaze.

“Good. Then come kiss me first,” she said. He just stood there, not sure if this wasn’t a test. She smiled and then took matters in her own hands. When she kissed him, he had an unexpected thought. Maybe there was something they could thank Lila for after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you read this because you crave as many reveals as possible, know that you're not alone! You can find many like you on the [ Miraculous Fanworks Discord](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks)! (At least I hope this is true, because if not, I'm in trouble)


End file.
